Burnley were founded in 1882 when Burnley Rovers Rugby Club decided to switch codes to Association Football. They moved to Turf Moor in 1883 and became founder members of the Football League in 1888. They lost their Top Flight status when they were relegated to the Second Division in 1896-97. The club colours were changed from green & black to claret & sky blue for the 1910-11 season.

The first meeting with Tottenham Hotspur came in a friendly played in December 1903 which Spurs won 4-0. The clubs met in the first round (modern third round) of the FA Cup in January 1906 with Spurs winning 2-0 at White Hart Lane.

The first League meeting came in December 1908 in the Second Division with Spurs winning 4-2 at the Lane. Burnley won a replayed FA Cup third round game at Turf Moor 3-1 in February 1909. The reverse League game that season was won by Spurs 2-1 at Burnley.

The first Top Flight League meeting came in October 1913 with Burnley winning 3-1 on home soil. Spurs won the reverse fixture 2-0. The clubs contested the 1921 Charity Shield with FA Cup Holders Spurs winning 2-0 at the Lane. From 1913 to 1928 all League games between Spurs & Burnley were played in Division One but by the 1930s both clubs had been relegated to Division Two, where they remained until football resumed after World War Two.

The clubs were back playing each other in Division One for the 1950-51 season and all but two League meetings from then have been in the Top Flight. Spurs won an FA Cup Semi-Final 3-0 against Burnley at Villa Park in March 1961 on their way to their third FA Cup win. They met again in the 1962 Final at Wembley with Spurs winning 3-1 with goals from Danny Blanchflower, Bobby Smith and Jimmy Greaves.

There have been relatively few direct transfers between the two clubs but in the summer of 1971 England international Ralph Coates moved to Spurs from the Clarets for £190,000. The first meeting in the Football League Cup came in the fifth round in 1983 with Burnley winning 4-1. A decade later, Spurs won a League Cup Semi-Final 3-1 over two legs. The clubs played a further two League Cup games before another Semi-Final was won by Spurs 6-4 on aggregate.

Burnley won promotion to the Premier League for the first time in season 2009-10 with Spurs winning 5-0 at the Lane in September with Robbie Keane scoring four goals, while Burnley won the return game 3-2 at Turf Moor. The Premier League game at White Hart Lane in December 2014 resulted in a close-fought 2-1 win for Spurs with all three goals coming in the first half. Harry Kane put Tottenham ahead after 21 minutes before Burnley equalised six minutes later with an Ashley Barnes goal. Erik Lamela scored the match-winner in the 35th minute.

Nacer Chadli converted a Ben Davies cross in the 56th minute to put Spurs ahead at Turf Moor in the FA Cup 3rd Round game in January 2015 but Sam Vokes got the equaliser for Burnley to force a replay.

Burnley scored two early goals in the replay at White Hart Lane through Marvin Sordell and Ross Wallace before Paulinho pulled on back for Spurs after 10 minutes and Etienne Capoue levelled things off just before half-time. Two goals for Spurs early in the second half from Vlad Chiriches and Danny Rose saw Spurs in the hat for the Fourth Round.

The teams played out a goalless Premier League draw at Turf Moor in April 2015. Spurs won the December 2016 match at White Hart Lane 2-1 after Ashley Barnes had put the Clarets ahead. Dele Alli and Danny Rose scored the Spurs goals with assists from Kyle Walker and Moussa Sissoko. The game in April 2017 was won by Spurs 2-0 with goals from Eric Dier and Heung-min Son.

Wembley was the venue for Tottenham Hotspur's home game against Burnley in August 2017 with Dele Alli putting Spurs ahead after 49 minutes and Chris Wood earning a draw for Burnley in injury time.

Tottenham Hotspur have won 46 of the 113 games played so far with Burnley winning 40 and the remaining 27 matches ending in draws.